Officials eye growing popularity of new drug

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, August 23, 2007

A drug discovered by Mexican shamans has hooked both scientists and the YouTube set.

These groups, among others, are cautiously tracking moves to ban Salvia divinorum, an herb-based hallucinogen used spiritually by Mazatec Indians from the Oaxaca area, and increasingly popular among teens and college-age students, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Scientists hope the drug, sometimes referred to as "diviners sage" and "magic mint," might lead to new treatments for some of the world's worst diseases.

Available at smoke shops and from Internet distributors, including one based in the Heights, Salvia has been spotted in Texas school districts, including in the Waco area where a state lawmaker has vowed to outlaw it, and at area college campuses, according to Drug Enforcement Administration officials in the Houston region. It is still legal in most places.

So far the drug has stayed below the radar of local schools, but as classes start next week, administrators say they are prepared to treat Salvia as they would any other drug banned from campus. And if social networking sites are any indication, at least some Houston-area teenagers are using it.

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At one MySpace page, a 17-year-old from League City wrote:

"I took like 5 hits of it. Me and my friends were sitting in a circle outside, and when i would look at them, there were soldiers behind them with guns just standing there like they were protecting us or something."

The drug is getting the most attention, though, at the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube, where mostly younger contributors have posted nearly 60 new clips of their Salvia "trips" in the past week.

Some feature kids alone in their rooms, smoking the dried plant and then laughing hysterically; others show parties of users. Typically, Salvia's effects last for a couple of minutes to an hour — much shorter than hallucinogens such as LSD. Users often appear incoherent and talk of out-of-body experiences.

Effect on brain studied

Also a professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, he first heard of Salvia from a student. A plant from the mint family, Salvia divinorum is related to other nonhallucinogenic Salvia plants, many of which are available at local garden centers.

Curious, Roth bought a specimen in 2000 and quickly discovered a unique quality: Unlike other drugs, Salvia targets just one receptor in the brain. Since then "a small army" of researchers have begun looking into Salvia's potential medical benefits, Roth said.

"We think that drugs derived from the active ingredient could be useful for a range of diseases: Alzheimer's, depression, schizophrenia, chronic pain and even AIDS or HIV," he said.

So far there have been no human studies on Salvia's effects, he said, and only a few patents for pharmaceuticals based on the herb. The DEA, though, has listed it as a drug of concern and is considering classifying Salvia as a Schedule I drug, akin to LSD or marijuana.

Roth and other scientists worry that would restrict further research. Instead, many in his field advocate making it illegal to possess or sell, but still easily available for scientific research.

At least six states and eight countries have passed laws regulating Salvia. In Delaware last year, the state general assembly approved "Brett's Law," named for Brett Chidester, a 17-year-old who committed suicide after he started taking Salvia.

His parents have sued the Internet companies that sold him the drug.

"Anyone under the age of 20 knows about it and has heard about it,"said Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson, who tried unsuccessfully to ban Salvia in Texas' last legislative session.

His bill died in the late session crunch, but Anderson, a Waco Republican, said he plans to revive it next session.

Warning to drivers

Even without a law banning it outright, Houston police say drivers under the influence of the hallucinogen could still face prosecution for driving under the influence .

Users, distributors and some experts, however, doubt the drug will spread to the masses.

At his Heights-based business called Mazatec Garden, Brian Arthur sells Salvia for $16.50 for 15 grams of the dried leaf or up to $500 for 10 grams of an "extra potent" leaf treated with an extract from the plant.

He said business picks up when lawmakers or the media draw attention to Salvia, but then drops back down to the same level within a few weeks.

"Most of the people who do try Salvia, they are not looking for just some kind of fun party experience: a legal high," said Arthur, who favors limiting the drug to those 18 or older. "They are looking for a kind of transcendental meditation experience."